The present invention relates to a plant and method for producing stacks of bodies such as timber bodies. A body-handling apparatus handles the timber bodies while a lath-handling apparatus handles the laths and these two apparatus operate in such a way that after a layer of bodies is formed by the body-handling apparatus at least a pair of laths are deposited on this layer and the next layer of bodies is deposited on these laths, and so on. In this way it is possible to form stacks of the bodies, such as timber bodies, wherein they are arranged in layers which are spaced from each other by the laths situated between the layers. Such arrangements are particularly suitable for drying timber.
Thus, in modern sawmill installations, one of the most important manufacturing stages involves the arrangement of elongated timber bodies in stacks suitable for drying. For this purpose the timber bodies are arranged in layers separated from each other by intermediate laths, these laths having a predetermined size and length depending upon the particular drying method and the size of the stack which is to be dried.
At the present time, machines which form stacks of the above type have several different constructions. However, the operations carried out by all of these known machines require a staff of at least two or even more individuals. For example, in the case of a two-person staff, one man will control the feeding of the timber bodies while the other will control the laying of the laths on each layer prior to situating the next layer of timber bodies on the previously deposited laths.
Inasmuch as the conventional apparatus of the above type is extremely expensive and inasmuch as the operations require at least two or more individuals, the operating costs for the conventional installations are undesirably high.
For the above reasons, a considerable effort has been made over a long period of time to develop a method and plant according to which only a single individual would be required for all of the operations in connection with forming stacks of the above type. Thus, there have been efforts to solve the problem, for example, in such a way that the same individual will periodically fill a so-called lath magazine, but the result is that the machine becomes only a periodically operating machine and the output is undesirably reduced.